Learning in the Lou

Most teachers are familiar with  Kahoot! , a multiple choice-based game system that awards points to students based on their speed and accuracy.  If you have been to an establishment where you can answer trivia questions that pop up on TV screens while you answer using a device at your table, you've basically played Kahoot!. Quizizz is a similar game system with some minor but significant differences.  Kahoot! and Quizzizz have pros and cons and each platform can help students and teachers learn.  This blog post will highlight the differences as they might play out in a classroom setting during a game-based learning experience. 1) Time limits (per question) Kahoot! - from 5 seconds to 2 minutes Quizizz - from 5 seconds to 5 minutes 2) Pacing Kahoot! - Students move as a group from question to question  after everyone has answered,  when time has expired, or  when the teacher advances the game to the next question. Quizizz...

Edcampstl - 2016 Do you remember when we hosted our own unconference? Do you recall how much you learned and enjoyed it? Why not join about 1,000 educators from the area for the same learning experience! Edcamp is about conversation around topics you are passionate about and figuring out ways to brings those to life in your classroom. You can start registering for this free event today!

Every student deserves useful, specific, timely feedback.  Formative assessments provide data that helps teachers differentiate instruction.  Personalized learning is the goal, but I just don't have enough time to sort through all that data. Can anyone help me??? *rumbling noises...like a jumbo jet or an earthquake* Look!  Up in the sky.  It's...SUPER QUIZ!!! Super Quiz is a Google Sheets add-on that does amazing things with student response data from Google Forms.  There are so many things!  Super Quiz: grades your student Google Form responses highlights correct answers by student compiles and sorts class averages on each question by teacher lists the students that got each question wrong allows the teacher to integrate specific feedback and supporting questions on individualized reports for each question creates printouts, emails, and google docs for each student with customized quiz analysis, including specific feedback an...

Picture+Draw+Voice = all at once! Take a picture. Annotate while you record your voice. Upload. Super simple and right to the point. Follow the images below to make this come to life in your classroom. Start by just taking a picture. Then click on the pencil icon to start your annotations.  The bottom of the draw screen has a few new tools. Click the REC button to start recording your voice while you annotate on the image. This might add some think time to help the kids focus on what they want to talk about.

Flipchart Fix Follow these steps to fix the text issues in your Promethean flipcharts. Click the File Explorer icon. (it looks like a little file folder) Double click on the C Drive . Double click Program Files (x86) Double click Activ Software Double click Inspire Right click on Inspire . Make sure you are click on the one that says Application . You will need to scroll down a bit to find it. Click Properties at the bottom. Click the Compatibility tab at the top. Click Disable display scaling on high DPI settings . Click Apply . Then click OK .

Experience the Amazing Story Builder! It won't let me embed but you really have to check out this story created by Doug and Colin .  This might just energize some of your students to explore writing in a new way. Do you remember this from the Google commercials? They featured Hall and Oates writing one of their famous songs.

Another gem we learned about. A Google a Day 1. Navigate to the site. 2. Click Start Playing and the countdown begins. 3. See if you can answer the question. A simple way to test you Google search skills. Many pathways to find the single correct answer. Sound easy? Think again.

Help is a simple search away. We learned about a different type of search engine powered by Google on Saturday. Try it out and see what you can find. How do you access this great site? Just click and search! Below is what I got when searching for Minecraft.

Check out #gafemo15 on twitter. I have learned about some very easy ways to get SLO data. Mining data from newspapers from 1800 to now. Pivot tables. (I really don't fully understand but I am figuring it out.) You can now assign Google Forms in Classroom! (I think this was just added on Thursday.)

Polleverywhere - Supercharged by BYOD by girl/afraid You need to quickly gather data from your class and you're looking for a way to make that happen. Look no further, Polleverywhere is here to do just that. We created this short video to give you just enough information to get started. Stay tuned for more videos showing you how to take this to the next level. Want access to the full version of Polleverywhere? Just email Doug or Colin and they will add you to the district full access account. Seriously! The full version!!!

Great teachers are constantly working to learn where students are at on the path to mastery.  In today's classroom, students are using many different classroom spaces while engaged in tailored learning experiences, making it hard for teachers to gather the critical formative data they need.  How can any teacher keep up? I wish there was an app for that... (* harp sounds *) Seesaw ! The app's design allows students the power of choice in expressing their learning.  The teacher can review, approve, and comment on student work in moments.  An additional feature even allows parents to check out their child's learning through powerful sharing and notification features.   The steps are simple: Students open the app and scan their class QR code. Students share their learning by taking a video or picture, writing, drawing, or uploading a file. The teacher views and approves the submissions, providing comments. Second grade students in ...